Method of making insole and insole made thereby

ABSTRACT

A method of making an insole includes the steps of (a) providing a base sheet material having through holes, (b) immersing the base sheet material in a filling material for enabling the filling material to fill up the through holes, (c) baking the base sheet material to cure the filling material, (d) splitting the base sheet material to a desired thickness, (e) bonding a fabric layer to one side of the base sheet material, (f) cutting the base sheet material into semi-finished insole, (g) stamping the semi-finished insole into a finished insole where the filling material protrudes over the top and bottom sides of the base sheet material, and the fabric layer has raised portions supported on the protruded filling material corresponding to the through holes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of making an insole for shoesand more specifically, to the method of making an insole for shoe thathas raised portions on the surface.

2. Description of the Related Art

An insole provides an elastic support to the sole of the user, enablingthe user to walk comfortably. In order to enhance the elastic power andventilation effect of an insole, the insole is made having raisedportions protruding over the top surface. When the user pressed the soleon the raised portions of the insole, gaps are left in between theuser's sole and the top surface of the insole for ventilation. An insolehaving raised portions may be molded from polymeric compound, foammaterial, rubber or the like. The mold has recessed portions in thecavity for forming raised portions on the surface of the insole.Usually, the insole molded integrally by this way has a bottom surfacewith recessed portions at areas corresponding to the raised portions ofthe top surface. When the insole is compressed, the raised portions tendto deform permanently after a long time of use of the insole, therebyreducing its elastic material property and ventilation effect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a methodof making an insole, which is practical to make insoles that maintains ahigh elastic power and provides a satisfactory ventilation effect aftera long time of use.

To achieve this objective of the present invention, the method of makingan insole provided by the present invention comprises the steps of (a)providing a base sheet material made of a first compound, the base sheetmaterial having a plurality of through holes through top and bottomsides thereof; (b) immersing the base sheet material in a fluid fillingmaterial prepared from a second compound to let the filling materialfill up the through holes; (c) baking the base sheet material in abaking oven to cure the filling material; (d) splitting the base sheetmaterial subject to a desired thickness; (e) bonding a fabric layer to atop surface of the base sheet material; (f) cutting the fabric layerbonded base sheet material thus obtained into a semi-finished insolewith a predetermined shape; and (g) stamping the semi-finished insole tocompact the base sheet material, for enabling the filling material toprotrude over the top surface and a bottom surface of the base sheetmaterial, thereby forming a plurality of raised portions at the fabriclayer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart according to a method of making an insole of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a base material for insole according tothe present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing showing the filling material immersionprocedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevation of the base sheet material after fillingmaterial immersion according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the base sheet material after materialsplitting according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the base sheet material after fabricbonding according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a semi-finished insole obtained aftercutting and baking procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a finished insole made according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view in an enlarged scale of a part of thefinished insole shown in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a method of making an insole in accordance with thepresent invention includes the steps of (a) material preparation, (b)filling material immersion, (c) baking, (d) material splitting, (e)fabric bonding, (f) cutting and baking, and (g) stamping.

Referring to FIG. 2, a base sheet material 10 is provided during step(a) material preparation. The base sheet material 10 is molded from apolymeric compound, for example, EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate), having aplurality of circular through holes 12 through the top and bottom sidesthereof.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, after step (a) material preparation, itproceeds to step (b) filling material immersion where the base sheetmaterial 10 is immersed in a fluid filling material 14, enabling thefilling material 14 to fill in the through holes 12. The fillingmaterial 14 is a different polymeric compound. According to thisembodiment, the filling material 14 is latex. The filling material 14 isfilled in the bottom die 16 of a mold 20 at first, and then the basesheet material 10 is put in the filling material 14 inside the bottomdie 16, and then a press 22 is operated to close the upper die 18 of themold 20 on the bottom die 16. When closing the upper die 18 on thebottom die 16, the filling material 14 is forced to fill up the throughholes 12 and to move over the top and bottom sides of the base sheetmaterial 10, and at the same time the base sheet material 10 isflattened. The flattened base sheet material 10 is kept in the mold 20for several minutes to let the filling material 14 be hardened andfixedly positioned in the through holes 12.

Thereafter, it proceeds to step (c) baking where the base sheet material10 is removed from the mold 20 and then put in a baking oven and bakedto cure the filling material 14.

After step (c) baking, it proceeds to step (d) material splitting wherethe top and bottom layers are removed from the base sheet material 10 bysplitting, thereby exposing the filling material 14 to the top andbottom side as shown in FIG. 5.

After step (d) material splitting, it proceeds to step (e) fabricbonding where a fabric layer 24 is covered on and bonded to the top sideof the base sheet material 10 as shown in FIG. 6. The fabric layer 24preferably has a color different from the color of the base sheetmaterial 10 and the color of the filling material 14, thereby producinga visual effect.

After step (e) fabric bonding, it proceeds to step (f) cutting andbaking where the fabric layer 24 bonded base sheet material 10 is cutinto semi-finished insoles 30 subject to the shape of the sole of ahuman being as shown in FIG. 7, and then the semi-finished insoles 30are baked in a baking oven for several minutes to soften the materialstructure.

After step (f) cutting and baking, it proceeds to the last step (g)stamping where the softened semi-finished insoles 30 are put in a coldstamper and stamped into the desired finished products as shown in FIG.8. Because the semi-finished insoles 30 are still soft when taken out ofthe baking oven, the semi-finished insoles 30 can be stamped into thedesired three-dimensional configuration to fit the structure of theshoe. When each semi-finished insole 30 is stamped in the cold stamper,the base sheet material 10 is compacted. After stamping, the base sheetmaterial 10 is maintained in the compacted status, however, due to thematerial property of latex, the filling material 14 immediately returnsto the former shape to protrude over the top and bottom surfaces of thebase sheet material 10 and to push a part of the fabric layer 24outwards, thereby fonning a plurality of raised portions 28.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, an insole 30 in accordance with the presentinvention comprises a base sheet material 10, a filling material 14, anda fabric layer 24. The base sheet material 10 is a sheet member having aplurality of circular through holes 12 through the top and bottomsurfaces thereof. The base sheet material 10 is molded from EVA(Ethylene Vinyl Acetate). The filling material 14 is obtained from latexand fixedly secured to the circular through holes 12 and protruded overthe top and bottom surfaces of the base sheet material 10. The fabriclayer 24 is covered on the top surface of the base sheet material 10over the protruded part of the filling material 14, thereby forming aplurality of raised portions 28.

As indicated above, the invention provides numerous advantages asfollows:

1. Because the filling material 14 fills up the circular through holes12 of the base sheet material 10 and protrudes over the top and bottomsurfaces of the base sheet material 10, it is directly supported on theoutsole of the shoe and maintained in contact with the user's sole toreceive pressure from the user directly. Therefore, the filling material14 is constantly maintained protruded over the top and bottom surfacesof the base sheet material 10 even after a long time of use of theinsole 30, giving an elastic support to the user's sole and goodventilation to the shoe.

2. The base sheet material 10 and the filling material 14 can be made ofdifferent materials having different hardness to fit different types ofshoes.

3. The raised portions 28 of the insole 30 can be arranged to provide amassaging effect to massage the user's sole.

1. A method of making an insole comprising the steps of: (a) providing abase sheet material made of a first compound, said base sheet materialhaving a plurality of through holes through top and bottom sidesthereof; (b) immersing said base sheet material in a fluid fillingmaterial prepared from a second compound to let said filling materialfill up said through holes; (c) baking said base sheet material filledwith said filling material in a baking oven to cure said fillingmaterial; (d) splitting said base sheet material to a desired thickness;(e) bonding a fabric layer to a top surface of said base sheet material;(f) cutting the fabric layer bonded base sheet material thus obtainedinto a semi-finished insole with a predetermined shape; and (g) stampingsaid semi-finished insole to compact said base sheet material, forenabling said filling material to protrude over the top surface and abottom surface of said base sheet material, thereby forming a pluralityof raised portions at said fabric layer.
 2. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said first compound is ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). 3.The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second compound is latex.4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in said step (b), thefilling material is filled in a bottom die, and then said base sheetmaterial is put in said filling material inside said bottom die, andthen a press is operated to close an upper die on said bottom die toforce said filling material into the through holes of said base sheetmaterial.
 5. An insole comprising: a base sheet material made of a firstcompound, said base sheet material having a plurality of through holes;a filling material prepared from a second compound and fixedly filled insaid through holes and protruding over two opposite sides of said basesheet material; and a fabric layer covered on one side of said basesheet material, said fabric layer having a plurality of raised portionsrespectively supported on the protruded filling material correspondingto the through holes.